

(Q^crU^ /a, 1900. 



k^ 





(•|ass_ ELi-Hi 



)()()k 



PRr:sKNTi-:n 



^ 



JENKINS FORT. 



An Historical Address by William A. Wilcox, Esq., at West 
Pittston, Pennsylvania, October I2, 1900, at the Dedica- 
cation of a Monument Erected by Dial Rock Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolution, Marking the Site 
of one of the Revoltionary Forts Built by the Connecti- 
cut Settlers in the Wyoming Valley. 

lR<eprinted from tire Piii-STON G.\^ETrii of October 12, 1900.] 



Members of Dial Rock Chapter, Ladies 

and Gentlemen: 

The part assigned me in these exer- 
cises is the presenting of such account 
as is accessible of the fort your mem- 
orial stone commemorates. 

It is part of a story which has been 
many times gone over by the his- 
torians of Wyoming and there seen>s 
t.5 be little new to be added. I know 
personally somewhat of the anxiety to 
be thorougli and of the care with 
which the l^te Sheldon Reynol'-Ts. of 
grateful memory, examined the subject 
in preparing his report, which nppears 
in the state publication, "Frontier 
Forts of Pennsylvania," and he was 
able to offer little as to .Tenkins' Fort 
in fidiMtion tn what was already in 
7)rint. It was a matter of expressed 
re-rrel-' with Mr. Reynolds thit Mr. 
Fteuben Jenkins had not lived to give 
to that commission the benefit of his 
years of stu'H- of local history and 
S'^mewhat of the result of his many op- 
p-^rfnities for gathering data regard- 
ing it. Mr. Jenkins took much pride 
in the prominent connection of his an- 
f.aptnrs with the early history of our 
\Pllev. and never overlooked anything 
relating to the name, so we may sTfely 
expect that there would be found 
among his papers specially full data 
regarding Jenkins' Fort. But all his 
papers Mrs. Jenkins regards as sacred, 
and her wishes are. of course, to be 
r^'specte'^. T know no other so likely 
place to look for unpublished materials 
rep"arding Jenkins' Fort. 

Under the circumstances, and inas- 
much as T am to essay the part of an 
historian and not that of a novelist. I 

trust I shall not be criticised, for quot- 



ing very largely from those who have 
preserved to us part of this history. 

The story of Jenkins' Fort can hardly 
be told without some bri^f reference to 
the Yankee-Pennamite controversy, 
and to the whole early history of the 
settlement. 

From ignorance of the geography of 
. the land, or from reckless indifference, 
or from both, Charles II made conflict- 
ing grants of the northern part of our 
Pennsylvania. The Connecticut royal 
grant was the earlier in date by at 
least eighteen years; the Connecticut 
people were the first to secure the In- 
dian title; and the Connecticut settlers 
were the first on the ground, and 
there -their descendants are today. The 
jurisdiction and right of soil were, 
however, given to Pennsylvania. The 
contest over the question whether this 
ground on which we stand should be 
Connecticut or 'Pennsylvania, or an 
independent state called perhaps West- 
moreland or Wyoming, cost a consid- 
erable number of lives and great hard- 
ship and suffering. 

The Connecticut people wanted this 
te'iitory for actual settlemerrt — wanted 
to m^ke here homes for themselves and 
their children. In 1753 they organized 
the Connecticut Susquehanna Com- 
pany and sent out explorers to exam- 
ine and survey the land; they pur- 
chased the Indian title at the Albany 
Congress held in 1754, and in 1762 sent 
on settlers from among their own mem- 
bers. These men were here in person 
fghting their own battles when battles 
were to be fought, and when unmolest- 
ed subduing the earth and making the 
fair valley what it speedily became— a 
veritable paradise. 



Turn the pages ot ftlStory ag you will, 
you shall hardly find record of a more 
perfect' life than that of the Connec- 
ticut settlers here, in that golden age 
of our local history. It is said that the 
first to visit the Valley stood transfixed, 
as from the mountain's brow they 
looked down and ti'aced the windings 
of the mighty river^ marked the is- 
lands, the broad plains and rich na- 
tural meadows, the groves and foot'^ 
hi;is and the encircling mountain walls. 
Campbell sang of "F'air Wyoming — 
Sweet Wyoming" as the lo^^eliest land 
of all this western world^a land of 
green declivities and sunny mountains, 
a land of romance and of innocence. 
"So sweet a spot of earth you might 

(I ween;' 
Have guessed some congregation of 

t'he elves. 
To sport by summer moons', had 
shaped it for themselves." 
Halleck, who had been here, as 
Campbell had not, wrote, 
"I've stood upon the wooded moun- 
tain's brow. 
That beetles high thy lovely valley o'er; 
And now, where winds the liver's 

greenest shore. 
Within a bower of sycamores am laid, 
And wind."?, as soft and sweet as ever 

{)ore 
The fragrance of wild flowers I'hrough 

sufi and shade, 
Are singing in the tree, whose low 

boughs pre-oS my head. 
Nature hath made thee lovelier than 

the power 
Even of Campbell's pen hath pic- 
tured." 
Nor was the charm confined to na- 
tural beauty. Fertility was here to 
which sun and soil confributed alike. 
A. Gol-fearing, aggressive, self-re- 
liant, industrious, law-abiding, intelli- 
gent, free people was here. Were they 
self-reliant, aggressive and energetic? 
They had come hither from the homes 
of their childhood, across rivers, 
through forests and over mountains, to 
renew a settlement' which had been 
wiped out by the heartless Indian mas- 
pacre of 1763. Were they God-fearing? 
Almost their first care was to provide 
for the preaching of the gospel. Were 
they virtuous? If you doubt it t'urn 
the pages of their records and see the 
trivial offences which alone occupied 



their attention when they sat as? a 
criminal court. Were bhey intelligent i 
They appropiiated a certain definite 
portion of the land of each township 
for the support of schools, they estab- 
lished a fortnightly post to Hart'ford 
(Miner, 199), and, if this is not enough, 
you may read the evidences of their 
attainments in the acts and resolves of 
their local parliament. Were fhey 
law-abiing? Yes, for when Connec- 
ticut refused them the pi'Otection of 
her laws they enacted their own and 
provi-^e 1 for their enforcement. Were 
they independent? Think how near 
they came t'j establishing here a four- 
teenth original commonwealth. What 
element, indeed, of all that is implied 
In the noblest, truest manhood was 
wanting in these ancestors of yours? 
None. 

"The tesfimonies of fti'storians and 
travellers concur in describing the in- 
fant colony as one of the happiest 
spots of human existence, for the hos- 
pitable and innocent manners of the 
inhabitants, the beauty of t*he country, 
and the luxuriant fertility of the soil 
and climate."— Campbell. 

Pennsylvania's hostility to this set- 
tlement' was not that those most large- 
ly interestel wanted to come here. 
Those who in the other century main- 
tained here in the valley the Pennsyl- 
vania side of that controversy were for 
the most part civil officers from lowei- 
Pennsylvania. paid soldiers, and des- 
pised, traitorous^ Tory spies. The Phil- 
adelphia land owners put forward 
these agencies to maintain a title 
which they doubtless deemed good, for 
what they expected to get' out of it. 

The New Englanders had succeede i 
in establishing themselves here and a 
few "years of tranquil enjoyment" (I 
quote from Miner, page 164,) "had in- 
creased the number of settlers at Wy- 
oming, while unremitted industry upon 
a prolific soil, had diffused t''nroughout 
the valley most of the necessaries, 
many of the conveniences, and some 
of the luxuries of life. Abundant food 
and clothing were enjoyed in every 
cottage. Numerous herds of cattle 
grazed upon the mountains. Hill and 
meadow were spotted with flocks of 
sheep. The flat's, nearly cleared, yield- 
ed thirty and forty fold the seed that 
was sown. Schoolhouses were erected 



in every district. Tlie Sal^Tjatli was 
kept with Puritan strictness. Ccngre- 
.gated in convenient" places the people 
listened to sermons from their gospel 
■ministers. Prayer ascended to the 
]\Iost High for grace in spiiitual mat- 
ters, and protection in their secular 
concerns; while 

■"They chant their artless notes in sim- 
ple guise: 
They tune their hearts, by far the 
noblest aim; 
Perhaps Dunlee'B will warbling meas- 
ures rise, 
Or plainti^'e Martyrs, worthy of the 

name." 
"Such was the picture presented by 
Wyoming at the commencement' of 
1775." (See also Frontier Ports of Penn- 
sylvania, 1; 431-2.) "At the spring elec- 
tion John Jenkins, Esq.. the elder, 
was elected member of the general as- 
sembly to be holden at Hartford in 
May. The dispute between Great Bri- 
f~in and the colonies, now approaching 
to an open rupture, had already effect- 
ed a sensible and, so far, not unfavor- 
fble influenf^e on the settlement, as, 
by occupying the attention of the Pro- 
prietary government with more im- 
portsnl' affqirs, the Connecticut people 
bad been left undisturbed to extend 
and establish their possessions. The 
battle at Lexington had taken place 
April 19th. On the 17th of June the 
bal'tle of Bunker's Hill was fought, so 
gloilously to the American arms. The 
effect produced at Wyoming by these 
soul-stlrrlng events will be be?t ex- 
pressed by the simple record of a town 
meetinsj legally warned." 

"At a meeting of ye ± roprietors and 
settlers of ye town of Westmoreland, 
legally warned and held in Westmore- 
land August 1st, 1775, Mr. John Jenkins 
was chosen Moderator for ye work of 
ye day. 

"^'ote1 that this Cown does now vot?e 
thot they will strictly observe and 
follow ye r-ules and regulations of ye 
Honorable Continental Congress, now 
sitting at Philadelphia. 

"Resolved by this town that they are 
willing to make any accommodations 
V ith ye Pennsylvania party that, shall 
conduce to ye best good of ye whole, 
rot infringing on the property of my 
person, and come in common cause ( f 
liberty and in ye defence of America, 



and that we will amicably give them 
X'e offer of joining in j^e proposals as 
soon as may be. 

"Voted this meeting is adjourned tui- 
til Tuesday, ye 8th day of this instant. 
August, at one of the clock in ye after- 
noon at this place. 

"This meeting is opened and held by 
an adjournment August the 8th, 1775. 

"Voted — as this town has but of late 
been incoiporated and invested with 
the privileges of the law, both civil 
and military, and now in a capacity of 
acting in conjunction with our neigh- 
boring towns within this anl the other 
colonies, in opposing ye late measliies 
adopted by Parliament to enslave 
America. Also this town having tiken 
into consideration the late plan adopt- 
ed by Parliament of enforcing their 
several oppressive and unconstitutional 
acts, of depriving us of our property, 
and of binding us in all cases without 
exception, whether we consent or not, 
is considered by us highly injurious to 
American or English freedom; there- 
fore do consent to and acquiesce in the 
late proceedings and advice of the 
Continental Congress, and do rejoice 
that those measures are adopted, and 
:!0 universally received throughout the 
Continent; and in conformity to the 
eleventh article of the association, we 
do now appoint a Committee to atten- 
tively observe the conduct of all per- 
sons within this town, touching the 
rules and regulations prescribed by the 
Honorable Continental Congress, and 
will unanimously jcin our Brethren in 
America in the common cause of de- 
fending our liberty. 

"Voted— That Mr. John Jenkins, Jo- 
seph Sluman. Esq., Nathan Denison, 
Esq., Ml'. Obadiah Gore. Jr., and Lieut. 
William Buck be chosen a Committee 
of Correspondence for the town of 
Westmoreland." etc. 

The sincerity of this i-esolve and as 
well the efhciency of the Wyoming set- 
tlement may be inferred from the fact 
that this young colony in its sixth year 
sent eight times its quota to the Bevo- 
lutionary army. (Miner 207; Frontier 
Forts, i; 437.) They were a force suf- 
ficient to have protected their settle- 
ment from either Pennamites or In- 
dians. But Wyoming's people seem 
never to have regarded their own dan- 
gers or interests when their patriotism 



was appealed to. {Miner, 192.) They 
knew of the opening of the road 
through to Niagara (Frontier Forts, i: 
433,) that stronghold and rallying point 
of British power which even then hel.l 
gome of their people captive, and they 
were wat-chful of the Tory emissaries 
cf the Fenn government and doubtless 
aware of their designs, yet Vt-ith the 
noblest self-sacrificing patriotism they 
responded thug far beyond their pro- 
pcrticn to t'he calls of the Continental 
Congress and Washington's extreme 
n38d Lieutenant Gore anl Captain 
Strong had taken into the field what 
Vxould have been Wyoming's quota and 
uith them fiie best weapons the colony 
had. Congress being appraised of the 
situation, in August, 1776, authorized 
the raising of two mare companies for 
the express defence of the inhabitants, 
and these troops, known as Durkee'a 
and Ransom's companies, were also 
Foon ordered t^o the front, thus prac- 
(ic^ally exhausting the able-bodied men 
of the young colony. This fact and 
the knowledge of the danger from the 
Indians and Tories was the occasion of 
the following resolutions: 

"At a town meeting legally warne 1 
and held in Westmoreland, Wilkes- 
Barre" district, August ye 24th, 177G. 
(""ol. Butler was chosen mtdeiator for 
.ve work of ■"<= da^' 

"V'oted, it is the opinion of this meet- 
ing that it now becomes necessary for 
ye inhabitants of this town to erec 
suitable fort or forts, as a defence 
against our common enemy. 

"August 28, 1776, this meeting is 
opened and held by adjournment. 

"Voted ye three field officers of ye 
regiment' of this town be appointed as 
a committee to view the most suitable 
pla'ces for building forts for ye defence 
of said town, and determine on some 
particulpr spot or place or places in 
each district for the purpose, and mark 
out t'he game. 

"Voted, that the above committee do 
recommend it to the people in each 
part as shall be set off by them to be- 
long to any fort', to proceed forthwith 
in building said fort, etc., without 
either fee or reward from ye said 
town." 

"A beautiful vote," says Miner, 
which we leave in its simplicity to 
speak its own eulogy." 



"The Wintermoots, a numerous farir- 
iiy, seeming t'o have extraordinary 
means at command, had purchased and 
settled near the head of the valiey 
upon a spot where a large spring of 
water gushes out of a high bank ur 
upper flat. Here they had erected a 
fortification known as Wintermoofs 
Fort\ This was looKed upon will jeal- 
ousy by the old settlers. A vote was 
therefore passed that no forts be built, 
except those which should be desig- 
nated by the miiitary committee. As it 
was too late to remedy the evil, the- 
committee resolved to counteract it as 
much as po.=sible by causing a fort' to' 
be built a mile above Wintermoof s, i.:D 
the neighborhood, and under the su- 
pervision of the Jenkins and Harding- 
families, leading men and ardent pa- 
triots. It was naiTtf^d Fort Jenkins," 
(Miner, 191.) or properly "Jenkins"' 
Fort," and was situated "about t'an or 
twelve ro:ls northeast of the Fittston 
Ferry Bridge. Standing upon the top 
of a high bank and overlooking the 
river t'he place was subject to the en- 
croachment of the current. Through 
the lapse of years a large part of the 
bluflf has been washed away an 3 a coii- 
Fi:'erable part of the site is nnw the 
rivers bed." (Sheldon Reynolds in 
Frontier Forts, i: 445.) The structure 
was a stockade built- around and in 
connection with the dwelling house of 
John Jen'.-ins, hence its n?,me. 

It should not be confused v.ith Fort 
Jenkins, situate on the north bank of 
the Susquehanna, in Columbia county, 
midway between Berwdck and Blooms- 
burg. The latter is, I understand, al- 
ways called Fort Jenkins, and the 
Exeter fort usually Jenkins' Fort. The 
distinction seems to be on? which 
should be observed. 

Elisha Harding, in a statement ap- 
pended to a memorial to congress in 
1S37, published first as a congressional 
document, now more readily found in 
Rev. Mr. Hayden's pamphlet on "The 
Wyoming Massacre," published by the 
Historical society at Wilkes-Barrp, 
has given a description of the fort and 
an account of the building of it, from 
which I win quote. 

"In the month of June, 1777, it was 
thought proper to commence building 
forts for defense against the enemy. 
We went to work; I, but a boy, could 



do but little, except driving oxen to 
haul logs; the logs were about eigh- 
teen or twenty feet long and placed in 
a ditch of sufficient depth (four feet) 
to stand against anything that could 
be brought by the enemy against it; 
the corners so constructed as to rake 
anything on the outside of the fort 
ihat should attempt to assail it. "The 
logs were placed so as to lap and were 
sharpened at the top. It is probable 
that as in Pittston Fort, across the 
river, they were fastened together 
with pins and stiffened by horizontal 
timbers pinned to the uprights inside. 
One more sentence from Mr. Hard- 
ing: "It was completed and every 
man to his work." 

A significant remark when it is re- 
called how much there wss to be don- 
in this strictly agricultural communi'y. 
and the few spared to do it from the 
armv and by the scourge of the small 
pox, with which the community was 
then afflicted. It is to be remembered, 
too, that they then, as they had for 
many months, were maintaining a 
regular watch and guard day and 
night. 

Such is the picture of Wyoming for 
1777: but before we close the view, al- 
low us to copy a heart touching re- 
solve from the proceedings of a town 
meeting legally warned, holden Dec. 
30. John Jenkins, esq., was chossn 
moderator for the work of the day: 

"Voted by this town, that the com- 
mittee of inspection be empowered to 
supply the sogers' wives, and the 
sogers widows and their families, with 
the necessaries of life.' 

"Let it bo engraved on plates of 
silver. Let it be printed in letters of 
gold. Challenge Rome in her Repub- 
lican glory, or Greece in her Dem- 
ocratic pride, to produce, the circum- 
stances considered, an act more gen- 
erous and noble." (Miner, 207.) 

"In May," Elisha Harding continues, 
"the people thought best to repair to 
the fort for safety. Those who w-ent 
to the Jenkins Fort were the Jen- 
kinses, William Marten, Captain Ste- 
phen Harding, Benjamin Harding, 
Stukeley Harding, James Hudsall, 
Samuel Morgan, Stephen Harding, jr., 
and Ichabod Phelps, a Miner Robbins, 
John Gardner and Daniel Carr." 

To which list we may add the names 



of some of the other.«., to wit: Eben- 
ezer Reynolds, the boy Rogers, aged 11; 
the boy John Hadsell, Daniel Wallen, 
or Weller, and Joel Roberts. John 
Gardner, Stephen Harding and doubt- 
less others, or these, were accompanied 
by wives and children. Of thos^ 
named, Minor Robbins, John Gardner, 
Daniel Weller, James Hadsell, James 
Hadsell, jr., Daniel Carr, Benjamin 
Harding, Stukeley Harding and Will- 
iam Martin were. among others, 
either killed or taKen prisoners before 
the second of July. Others had be;n 
wounded, and when the time for de- 
fense came the fort was practically 
defenseless for want of a garrison. 

The enemy, about 1,100 in number, 
encamped the night of the first of 
July on the mountain yonder, and par- 
ties from the camp passed in an! out 
of Wintermoot. (Frontier Forts, i, 439, 
444.) The following day Fort Winter- 
moot was occupied without resistance 
and became Major Butler's headquar- 
ters, a purpose for which it was pos- 
sibly originally designed. The same 
afternoon Butler senr a flag to .Ten- 
kins' Fort, "demanding a surrender 
thereof; Captain Harding and Esquire 
Jenkins met Butler, and there being 
but five able bodied men. and two old 
men and three boys, left in the fort, 
and the Indians in possession of Win- 
termoot's, it was thought rnosi ad- 
visable to surrender on the iOl!ov>-lng 
conditions: That nothing should i;e 
laken from the inhabitants of the fort, 
except such things as were vvani.el for 
Ihe army, and that to be paid for: the 
iiihabitants to have liberty to return 
home and occupy their farms in i)i^a(e, 
but not to take up arms durin:^ thn- 
war." (Elisha Harding and compare 
Art. Capit. Forty Fort.) 

"The fort was taken possession of 
by a Captain Colwell. The next morn- 
ing, the third of July, they set about 
demolishing the fort (comnare Mr. 
Gardner's account in Peck's Historv 
of Wyoming, p. 355) and in the course 
of the day, say 1 o'clock, orders came 
to repair to the Wintermoot Fort, as 
the Yankees, so-called, were coming 
out for battle. Nothing more was 
heard until about 3 or 4 o'clock, when 
the fii'ing began, and we thought it 
came near towards us, but soon found 
it to draw further off, and in some time 



appeared more scattering, which mad? 
us think that our army was defeat el, 
which soon proved to be too tru.^. 
Early the next morning we couln see 
them fixing thsir scalps on little boviS 
made of small sticks, and with th<nr 
moccasin awls and a string, wer^? sew- 
ing them around the hows and scrap- 
ing off the flesh and blood. car<^fully 
drying them, and at the same lime 
smoking." (Elisha Harding, Hayd?n 
72.) 

Miner pi'ints the following a.^ the 
articles of capitulation: 

"Capitulation of Jenkins' For:. 
(From Ker Majesty's State Paper Of- 
fice, London, entitled 'Militarv. iTTS. 

No. 122.') 

"Fort Jenkins' Fort, July 1st, 1778. 

"Between Major John Butler, on bo- 
half of His Majesty King George tho 
Third, and John Jenkins. 

"Art. 1st. That the Fort, with iP 
the stores, arms and ammunition, be 
delivered up immediately. 

"2d. That Major John Butler shall 
preserve to thein, entire, the lives of 
the men. women and children." 

Note. — The articles of capitulation 
of Wintermoot's Fort, same date, aio 
a little more full. Those of the thie.- 
forts across the river. July 4. are al- 
most identical with Jenkins' Fort. The 
general capitulation by Colonel D'-ui- 
son, which included Forty Fort, is 
more lengthy. All are gi\en in Min t 
at page 253 et. sjq. 

To ascertain the accuracy of thi.=; 
transcript, and what signatures >vere 
attached to the original, either as par- 
ties or as witnesses, I addressed a let- 
ter to our distinguished ambassador at 
the Court of Saint James, enelosia t 
him a copy of the sixty-word docu- 
mtnt, with the above reference to the 
particular volume in Her Majesty'.'; 
State Paper Offlce, and the request 
that he have it compared with th? 
original. In reply I was advised that 
my letter had been turned over to Mr. 
Benjamin F. Stevens, the emin,?nl: 
1 il liographer. who would "do the job" 
for me, if I should reciuest it, at a rea- 
sonable charge. Before I had found 
time to reply, the mail brought Mr. 
Stevens' statement that the records 
referred to w-ere not originals, but 
copiep. and he went on to qunte frv" 
Major Butler's report, or letter of 



July Sth to Captain Le Maistre (see 
a,lso report same date to Lieutenant 
Colonel Bolton, Peck, 54) : "Vv^hat gives 
me the sincerest satisfaction is, that 
I can with great truth assure you that 
in the Destruction of this settlement 
not a single person has been hurt of 
the Inhabitants; but such as were in 
arms; to those, indeed, the Indians 
gave no quarter." Mr. Stevens also 
told me of one contemporary who men- 
tioned Major Butler favorably and 
spoke of him as being "very modest 
and shy." 

The learned gentleman's willingness 
to palliate the guilt of John Butler 
prompts me to speak here my senti- 
ment regarding it. To avoid as far as 
po.=sib!e, any injustice, I took occa- 
sior^ to visit the Lenox library, in New 
York city, that I might examine Major 
Butler's claim upon the British gov- 
ernmert. a transcript of which I was 
informed by Mr. Stevens' letter was 
contained in volume 43 of his tran- 
scripts of documents relative to th- 
American loyalists. 

From the somewhat r?stricted use I 
was permitted to make of the volume, 
I learned that Major Butler was a na- 
tive of Connecticut, a son of W: But- 
ler, and a resident of Tryon county. 
New York, where h? owned 3,480 acres, 
called Butlersbury, twenty-four miles 
from Schenectad.v, and one mile from 
the Mohawk river. He was urged by 
Mr. Duane, a member of congress, to 
identify himself with the cause of the 
colonists, but declined. He served the 
British under Generals Guy Carleton 
and Frederick Haldimand. He was 
attainted of treason, whereby he lost 
all his lands, and this loss was the 
basis of his claim upon the British 
government. In his memorial it is said 
he "raised a corps of Rangers, first of 
eight companies, with the rank of ma- 
jor, and afterwards of ten companies, 
with the rank of lieutenant colonsl, 
completely, and with them he often 
f<jught the enemy, particularly at Wy- 
oming, in the year 1778, upon their own 
terms, when 376 of them fell." At the 
time of the petition he was drawing 
the pay of a retired lieutenant colonel. 
I found, however, nothing which it 
.'^eemed to me tended to excuse the con- 
duct of Major Butlei". 

I would not withhold anything of thc> 



most sincere and absolute forgiveness 
to be accorded a penitent offender. If 
some of his defenders will show that 
John Butler ever indicated sorrow for 
his uncivilized inhumanities, I will 
withdraw every unkind word said of 
him and help to cover his repented-of 
deeds, but in the absence of such evi- 
dence, let the scales be held with an 
even hand; let it be said that he, John 
Butler, gloried in his inhuman work 
so long as it meant money and promo- 
tion, and stifled the promptings of re- 
morse by writing falsehoods in his re- 
port in the hope that it might perhaps 
save his reputation from the just 
criticism that would come to be made 
of him. 

There were many such murders as 
that of young James Hadsell, who 
was not in arms, but returning with 
Benjamin and Stukeley Harding from 
work in the fields up the river on the 
30th of June, and John Butler was 
their murderer. He was exercising 
military command, but it is not legiti- 
mate warfare to lead against a civil- 
ized people a horde of such savages, 
incited by rewards offered for scalps 
of white men, women and children, 
and then plead Inability to control 
these agents. John Butler forgot sol- 
dierly honor and deliberately, wilfully 
led on irresponsible agents to do in- 
human murder. And his report, prim- 
ed at length in Peck's history (page 
52) marks him for either a braggart, or 
one careless of his facts. Let the bit- 
terness engendered by these events 
die out, but tell the truth. 

Come with me up the Lackawanna 
yonder a little way. See those savages 
who have been led hither by Butler 
and who shall go back to Niagara to 
get their bounty for scalps on his cer- 
tificate. See tb?i'e^killed not in arms, 
but bearing his babe and hurrying 
from the presence of Butler's hired 
monsters — the mutilated corpse of 
John Leach. Do .vou turn aside so 
soon? Have nerve. Look again. 
There is his wife receiving her babe 
from the nands of the murderer. Tell 
her, as she clutches it to her breast 
and shrinks away with her little one 
still stained with its father's blood, 
that John Butler deserves to be well 
spoken of — that he is modest and shy. 
(Hayden 76; Miner 239.) 



On this mountain, to the southeast 
of us, see another mother. She is one 
of many who are threading the de- 
vious paths of this mountain wilder- 
ness. The trail she follows is but a 
rude path through swamp and marsh. 
She tries to go on, but staggers for 
\ ery weakness. She stops to look 
tack. Sobbing convulsively, but with 
that great self-conti-ol that belongs to 
woman borne up by the mother love, 
and for the sake of this other little 
one by her side, else the mother, too, 
had remained here, she hurries away. 
A little apart from the trail you may 
find a fal.'en tree, crumbling into de- 
cay. Banked up against it are some 
hastily gathtred leaves and stones. 
They cover her babe. You shall see 
man3' rude mounds here and many 
bones will bleach uncovered. This 
place will be known for centuries to 
come as the "Shades of Death." 

When General Sherman said "War 
is hell," he spoke of civilized warfare. 
Neither he, nor you, nor I can imagine 
the exaggerated horrors of John But- 
ler's campaign when "not a single per- 
son was hurt save such as were in 
arms." 

Within sight of where we are gath- 
ered, perhaps on this very spot, John 
Gardner stood near what had been the 
entrance of Jenkins' Fort, loaded with 
plunder, the burden of two men, and 
with a halrer round his neck, by which 
he should be led captive. Here, and 
he so accoutred, his wife and little 
ones were brought to bid him good-bye 
before they should start out on that 
"Shades of Death" trail and he be led 
away to the north, and so they took 
leave of him. What a memory ror ren- 
der children to carry through life. 
(Miner, 238; Hayden, 76.) If you could 
have asked them as they paused on 
the mountain's brow for a brief, neces- 
sary rest, and looked down on the 
charred remains of their so happy 
home, would their answer have war- 
ranted that contemporar.v's estimate of 
Butler, or mine? Or shall we wait 
our question until a few months later 
they shall have heard of the killing 
of their father at Geneva? This John 
Gardner went out from this Jenkins 
Fort to his fields to work and was 
there taken. I wonder if before they 
killed him they handed him an empty 



rifle so as to bring him within the ex- 
ception. Or was Butler's report tru? 
because death did not hurt John Gard- 
ner? 

He doubtless know that Major But- 
ler had solemnly engaged to "preserve 
to them entire the lives of the msn, 
women and children,'' and possibly 
r.sted in the belief that this "shy anl 
modest" soldier had sent a small de- 
tachment of his msn as far as the 
Delaware as a protection to these 
wards of his, and so John Gardner, 
secure in the knowledge that his lovs.S 
ones were under the protection of thi.s 
brave though "modest and shy" Tory 
commander, met death without its 
hurting- him. 

The scalps Elisha Harding .poke of. 
and those one of the captives saw fur- 
ther north and noted as includin.T 
those of women and children were n > 
doubt the same, and were included in 
those for which payment was made at 
ten dollars a head. They were in part 
the measure of John Butler's infamy. 

Our historians are too ready to make 
over our history to help out the reuu- 
tation of these people ani their pres- 
ent day kin. You see and heai it stat- 
ed frequently nor^adays that Bran', 
was not here, and it is getting to b? 
almost accepted history that he was 
not, tut their alle.ged proofs when 
carefully scanned prove either too lit- 
tle or too much. It seems to be easy 
to disprove history. It was nD less <,; 
person than Archbishop Whately. who. 
in 1819. rutalished his Historic Doubt.-^ 
relative to Napoleon Bonaparte, and 
Governor Roosevelt, in the first volum^ 
of his "Winning of the West," has de- 
voted much space to a refutation of 
the attacks upon the authenticity of 
that speech of the Indian chief Logan, 
beginning "I challenge any white man 
to say," etc. It has been shown that 
William Tell was but a myth; that 
Columbus did not discover America: 
that Shakespeare was but an ignorant 
tool of some other person ashamed to 
acknowledge the authorship of th? 
great plays: that the stories of the 
Christ's life, death and resurrection 
are but fables: and now it has been 
apparently demonstrated that Abra- 
ham Lincoln, whom your fathers and 
mine tell us the.v knew in the flesh, 
was but a dream of the historians. I 



prefer orthodoxy. I prefer to accept 
the history of this event of ours as it 
stood for the first succeeding half cen- 
tury. And I say to you that it has not 
yet been satisfactorily shown by cred- 
i:able evidence that Brant was not at 
Wyoming. And certainly not that 
John Butler is entitled to even a small 
measure of your good opinion or tol- 
erance. 

While on this subject, let me refer 
to a misquotation of Hon. Steuben 
Jenkins' address of 1878. William 
Clement Bryant, in a paper read be- 
fore the Buffalo Historical society, in 
1889 (p. 23), quotes Mr. Jenkins as fol- 
lows: 

"Truth and justice require that an- 
other fact which has been omitted 
should be told at this time. So far as 
known to the people here not a woman 
or child was slain by the enemy in 
the valley. * * * There was no 
.shutting up of whole families in their 
houses and then fire set to them, and 
the whole consumed together. No 
slaughter of whole families, men, wo- 
men and children, in that or any other 
\\ ny." 

The words emitted were "Aow many 
were slain by them in the woods, 
whither they pursued them, was 
never known." And the omission, I 
submit, changes the sense of the quo- 
ta' ion very materially. 

The question has been asked, were 
the terms of the capitulation respect- 
ed? 1 have already told you. It does 
not seem to have greatly concerned 
Major Butler that they should be lived 
u;) to. It may even be doubted if he 
greatl.v desired it. The defenseless 
situation of the colony was well known 
at the outset (Miner, 234.) It was to 
be wiped out, Butler said, because it.^ 
men took part in the war. His was 
an expedition, not against warriors, 
but against defenseless homes and 
helpless non-combatants. If there was 
any pretense of complying with the 
terms of the articles it was an exceed- 
incrly modest and shy one. (Note — ^See 
further as to Butler. Miner, p. .236.) 

Let us turn now from the Tory lead- 
er to two of our own people. I wish 
that time afforded to tell something 
more of the detail of the lives of oth- 
ers of these heroic men. 
Captain Stephen Harding was among 



the foremost of the patriotic citizens 
of Wyoming, and the ranl^ing- mili- 
tary officer in Jenkins' Fort, and had 
there been occasion to exercise mili- 
tary command it would doubtless have 
devolved upon him. He and Judge 
Jenkins went out together to meet the 
British officer (Captain Colwell) and 
treat for capitulation. Both his father 
and grandfather had borne the same 
name and title which he honored, and 
his great grandfather was Stephen 
Harding, of Providence. Captain 
Harding was one of the true»t of pa- 
triots and few families felt more se- 
verely than his the hardships of the 
war for our independence. 

He married Amy Gardner, and set- 
tled in Colchester, Conn., in 1747, and 
there his children were borr. . He was 
among the early members of the Con- 
necticut Susquehanna company, came 
to Wyoming in 1770, settled here at the 
head of the valley, and here he died 
Oct. 11, 17"89, aged 66 years. He had 
twelve children, of whom three were 
daughters. Of the sons, Israel served 
throughout the Revolution; Thomas 
was a soldier, present at the battle of 
Sai-atoga, and witnessed the surrender 
of Burgoyne: David was taken cap- 
tive at Wyoming, while Benjamin and 
Stukeley. killed on the afternoon of 
the last day of June, returning from 
their fields up the river, were the 
first victims of the savage invasion 
They fought as long as they could 
raise a hand, but were overpowered, 
killed, scalped and otherwise horribly 
mutilated. Theii- bodies were recov- 
ered and buried in the cemetery at the 
forks of the road a short distance from 
here. John, a lad of 13, had been one 
of this same party, but escaped by 
throwing himself into the river, where 
he lay under the willows. The In- 
dians searched for him, but though 
they were at one time so near they 
could have touched him, he was not 
discovered. Elisha, also a mere boy, 
rendered, as we have seen, imnortant 
assistance in the erection of the fort. 
Surely the name of Captain Stephen 
Harding of the Seventh company. 
Twenty-fourth regiment, Connecticut 
militia, Litchfield county deserves 
prominent mention in the his- 
tory of this valley bes'de 
those of Colonel Zebulon Butler, Lieu- 



tenant Colonel George Dorrance, Ma- 
jor John Garrett, and the other battle 
heroes of that war. Surely this fami- 
ly paid the last full measui'e of service 
to the cause. Nor has the strain of 
virile blood been exhausted. Captain 
Stephen's great gra.idson. Judge Gar- 
rick M. Harding, our neighbor, who i« 
enjoying a well-earned rest after a 
long life of usefulness, is not the only 
descendant of the family who has 
held high official position and honored 
this noble ancesttry. 

John Jenkins, sr., for whom Jenkins' 
Fort was named, was born of Quaker 
ancestry, in Kingston, R. I., Feb. 6, 
1727-8. and removed, in 1750, to Col- 
chester, Conn., where he taught school, 
and married Lydia. daughter of Ste- 
phen Gardner. He was connected with 
one of the expeditions against Louis- 
burg. (James Atherton Gordon, in 
Pittston Gazette, of Sept. 4, 1874.) 
John and Lydia had seven children, all 
of whom came to this valley, and from 
two of whom are descended thirteen 
of the members of your chapter. 

He seems to have been among the 
early members of the Connecticut 
Susquehanna company, having in No- 
vember or early December, 1754, pur- 
chased what was apparently a second 
share. From the fact that he was in 
the company so early and that his 
money was paid to the secretary in- 
stead of to one of the committees, and 
from his early and continued promi- 
nence in the affairs of the company, T 
infer that he was among its organ- 
izers. Mr. Gordon says he was ui' 
doubtedly the projector of the Indian 
congress held at Albany in luA. Col- 
onel Wright, in his "Historical 
Sketches of Plymouth" (page 73), says 
Judge Jenkins was sent here in 1753 
to view the land, treat with the In- 
dians, survey and make purchases. 
Governor Hoyt is authority for the 
fact that he made surveys here in 1754. 
(Brief of Title, 56.) In 1755 he ascer- 
tained the latitude of Wilkes-Barre. 
(Historical Record, i, 121.) And it was 
he who made the allotment to the for- 
ty settlers of Kingston. (Gordon, lb.) 
I credit these authorities notwith- 
standing the recent denial by a local 
genealogist, of some of the facts in- 
volved. (The Harvey Book. 921.) If it 
be true as has been suggested, that 



Colonel Wright and Governor Hoyt 
received their information from the 
late Steuben Jenkins, the fact does 
not make their statements any less 
entitled to credence. Both died, and 
Mr. Jenkins also, before this denial 
appeared, and we may not know 
whether they were shown by him con- 
temporary documentarj' evidence, or 
took the ipse dixit of Mr. Jenkins with- 
out question. If the latter, they sim- 
1 ly did what every one else iias done 
in matters of local history to this day. 
No one, so far as I know, has ever 
questioned his statement of a simple 
liistorical fact before. He was recog- 
nized as severely exact, and I know 
of nothing in his life or in the evidence 
at hand that should lead us to ques- 
tion this statement of his. Indeed, he 
is distinctly confirmed by Mr. Gordon, 
who gives his authorities as his mother 
and his uncle, Elisha Atherton, who 
were in position to have known and 
were clearly disintei'ested in these 
statements. 

The records of the comany show 
John Jenkins to have ben frequently 
appointed on its most important com- 
mittees, such as, "to inspect the set- 
tlement to me made;" to attend an In- 
dian congress "with full power to 
treat;" to oversee, determine an^ regu- 
late the settlement of the first ten 
townships; "to receive propiietois;" "to 
approve, admit, oversee, superinteni, 
manage and order the affairs and pro- 
ceedings of the first forty setlers:" to 
apportion and divide expense money; 
"on the government of the settlement;" 
"to lay out road;" etc. Here in Wyom- 
ing he was also prominent. He was 
selectman and listener; was member 
from Westmoreland of the Connecticut 
assembly five terms; was on a commit- 
tee of three to repair to each town and 
lead them to choice of officers; one of 
the school committee; on committee 
to mark a road from the Delaware to 
the Susquehanna; was appointed by 
the Connecticut legislature first 
county judge of Westmoreland; and, 
what I would esteem the highest honor, 
he was moderator of the meetings 
which adopted the patriotic resolutions 
of August 1st, 177.5, identifying the 
colony with the Revolutionary cause, 
and those of December 30, 1777, so high- 
ly commended by Miner. 



He was first of Kingston township 
and held a lot about where Forty-Fort 
Cemeterv now is, and he became one 
of the organizers of the new town of 
Exeter. In the allotment of lands in 
Exeter Judge Jenkins drew the lot 
including the spot on which we aie 
gathered, and here his home was es- 
tablished. We have already seen how 
the fort was built about his house, how 
in the hopelessness of resistence it was 
surrendered, and how on the morning 
of that fateful July 3d it was ds- 
stroyed. He set out July 6th with his 
family and some of their neighbors, 
on foot, for Connecticut, but from 
Stroudsburg went on public busines.-: 
to Harris's Ferry, (now Harrlsburg). 
Pennsylvania, and thence to Wyoming 
again. From there he proceeded with 
Col. Nathan Denison to Hartford, 
where, on the 27th of October they 
presented to the legislature of Con- 
necticut a memorial written by h'm- 
self and signed by himself and Co!. 
Denison in behalf of the Wyomintr 
sufferers. In the bill of losses those 
of John Jenkins are stated as £598, 
Is., the fourth largest on the list. 
(Harvey Book, 995.) Early in 1779 he 
joined his family in New London 
county, Connecticut, and remained 
with them until the autumn of 17S2. 
when they returned to their former 
home in Exeter, in the Wyoming val- 
ley. On the 19th and again on the ^id 
of April. 1783, we find him speaking 
in behalf of the settlers before the 
commissioners appointed under the 
Pennsylvania "Confirming Act." (Hoyt, 
56.) In May, a year later, he was 
driven a third time from this valley. 
The first was after the Indian massacre 
of 1763, the second after the massacre 
of 1778. this time it was before the 
Pennsylvanians. He went on foot, 
with little of this world's goods, an old 
man, lame and broken in health, anl 
with a heavy heart. Among his dear- 
est possessions, carried, it is said, 
strapped to his back, was the bible 
that had been for many years his 
solace and strength. His life had been 
spent in the most honorable, patriotic, 
public service. He believed in the jus- 
tice of the Connecticut claim as he 
believed in the truths of that bible, 
and he, probably more than any other 
one person, not excepting even John 



Franklin himself, was representative 
of it. He, too, probably more than any 
other one person has been responsible 
for the occupancy to-day of north- 
eastern Pennsylvania by the Yankees, 
instead of by the later coming German 
emigrants from the Palatinates. Ho 
died that same Fall at Goshen, New 
York, and was buried at a place called 
The Drowned Lands, in, the town of 
Florida, in Orange county. New York. 
It has been claimed that Judge Jen- 
kins was the person from whom Camp- 
bell drew his character of Albert. That 
Campbell, who had never visited 
America, had any acquaintance with 
or special knowledge of Judge Jenkins 
is not to be supposed: nevertheless, 
th?r claim is not an unreasonable one to 
be made. He was as we have seen, 
one of the first sellers: he had suffered 
in the first Indian massacre; had 
served as Justice of the Peace and as 
first county judge. And the local his- 
torians unite in speaking of him as 
one of the foremost of the men of 
Wyoming and Westmoreland and one 
whose character and attainments 
would fully warrant the high terms of 
praise with which Campbell speaks of 
Albert. 

A word with reference to the .sub- 
sequent history of the site seems ap- 
propriate. Judge Jenkins died before 
the passage of the compromise act 
of 1799. It is probable that he would 
never have acknowledged Pennsyl- 
vania's right by taking title under 
her. His children, however, appear to 
have received certificates from the 
Commissioners for portions of his 
lands here, this particular part going, 
I understand, to Thomas. From 
Thomas it passed to his own grand- 
son, Amos York Smith, son of Dr. 
John Smith and his wife Mehitable 
Jenkins. Mr. Smith owned it until 
18!j7 when it became the property of 
Mr. Ralph D. Lacoe and others, and 
from them, Mr. Lacoe, Mr. Theodore 



Strong and the estate of H. J. Wisner, 
your chapter gets title to-day by gift. 

I have been obliged for want of 
time to omit much interesting and ap- 
propriate matter which is in a way 
connected with this old-time fort and 
its occupants, yet really rather part 
of the history and romance of the 
whole valley. There is much more of 
Elisha Harding's account, and it is 
now fortunately readily accessible. I 
find in our old law reports a reference 
to an arrest of John Franklin, Elisha 
Satterlee, John Jenkins and others on 
account of their support of the Con- 
necticut side of the Yankee-Penna- 
mite controversy from which an inter- 
esting tale could doubtless be told by 
one who had time to follow the clue. 
I should specially like to have gath- 
ered up some of the threads .of the 
life of Capt. Jeremiah Blanchard from 
whom a considerable number of your 
members trace descent, but though ha 
lived just across the river there, I do 
not know that he was specially con- 
nected with this particular fort and 
so I have passed him by. 

We have been told that no part of 
this country of so limited an extent 
has been so much written about as 
this valley. I am sure none can have 
more of romantic interest or more 
lessons of patriotism. I have found 
the study of our local history one of 
absorbing interest and commend it 
to you. There were noble men here 
in those days and events enacted with 
far reaching elYect on the history not 
only of this valley, but of the Common- 
wealth and nation. 

If this modest stone shall lure to 
this story of the past the attention of 
but a few of those who must see 't, 
among the children and youth born i. 
this rich heritage, or among the for- 
eigners coming among us, it will have 
well justified your project and the 
persistent efforts by which you have 
overcome the obstacles which have 
hindei-ed you. 



NOV 10 1900 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



JT^'^^^^' 



